SWM Renewable Energies expansion campaign

By 2025, SWM is aiming to produce as much green electricity at its own plants as required to power the entire city of Munich. This would make Munich the first city worldwide with over a million residents to have achieved this target!

In 2008, SWM already started implementing its ex-pansion campaign for renewable energies and earmarked a budget of nine billion euros for the project.

First expansion target achieved

SWM already achieved its first major climate protection target in May 2015 – its plants produce the green energy required to power all private households in Munich as well as MVG’s electrically-powered public transport infrastructure. This was an important step on the road to achieving “100 percent green electricity for Munich”. Other projects have also been realized in the meantime. Before long, SWM will therefore be able to draw on a generation capacity of over 3.5 billion kilowatt hours of green electricity – a figure that already corresponds with around 50 percent of Munich’s electricity requirements. In addition to hydroelectric, geo-thermal, solar and biomass power, wind power also plays a central role in the SWM strategy.

Regional and Europe-wide commitment

Projects in Munich and its surrounding region have been prioritized by SWM. The company currently operates 24 photovoltaic plants in this region. The portfolio in Munich and the surrounding region also includes 13 hydroelectric power plants, a biogas processing plant, a geo-thermal cogeneration plant, two geothermal plants and a wind park. Further power plants are planned.

Nevertheless, SWM is unable to generate as much renewable power in the region around Munich as is required for the metropolis, as the regional potential is limited. That is why the company participates in projects in the rest of Germany and Europe. Across the continent, the company selects and uses the most suitable locations for constructing renewable power plants after taking energy and economic viability factors into consideration. SWM is harnessing this potential with a view to safeguarding Munich’s energy future.

SWM green electricity in the ‘euro grid’

The power is fed into the grid where it is produced in an effort to avoid losses involved in transporting power over long distances with power lines. The integrated European power network is comparable to a huge lake. Everyone who generates power feeds into this “lake of energy”, while everyone who consumes power draws from the lake. Every kilowatt hour of renewably-generated power helps to make this European lake a little cleaner.

Being involved in climate-friendly energy generation plants away from Munich is therefore just as significant as doing so in Munich itself. After all, the positive effects on the environment also benefit the residents of Munich. The renewable energy plants already operated by SWM alone save around 2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year as well as more than 1.1 tons of radioactive waste.

Yield: 64 million kWh/year (corresponds with the requirements of 26,000 households in Munich)

Onshore wind park in Sweden

Since 2015, SWM has owned one onshore wind park in Sweden.

Yield: 400 million kWh/year (corresponds with the requirements of 160,000 households in Munich)

Onshore wind park in Norway

Symbolbild: Windrad der Windkraftanlage in Fröttmaning.

Together with municipal partners SWM is building an onshore wind park in Norway. It will go online in the beginning of 2019. SWM participation: 60 percent (corresponds with the requirements of 84,000 households in Munich).

SWM holds a 33 percent participation in wpd europe – a company currently active in 11 European countries. To date, wind parks in Poland, Croatia, Belgium, France and Finland have been realized, among other projects.

Offshore wind park DanTysk in the North Sea off Sylt

Together with Vattenfall, SWM holds a participation in two offshore wind parks off the coast of the island of Sylt.

The DanTysk wind park has been in operation since 2015.

SWM participation: 49 percent (corresponds with the requirements of 250,000 households in Munich)